


Christmas Trees

by without_the_burden_of_an_adams_apple



Category: The Queen's Gambit (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Complete, Fluff, Gen, One Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28070172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/without_the_burden_of_an_adams_apple/pseuds/without_the_burden_of_an_adams_apple
Summary: In all of her twenty-three years, Beth has never had a Christmas tree. Benny is determined to change that.
Relationships: Beth Harmon & Benny Watts, Harry Beltik & Beth Harmon
Comments: 3
Kudos: 74





	Christmas Trees

**Author's Note:**

> Just a lil Christmas fluff to give Beth a break from the stuff I put her through in Foggier :)

Beth had never had a Christmas tree. This was not for lack of want, but every year, for one reason or another, she was prevented from getting one. The trailer that she lived in with her birth mother was much too small to accommodate even a tiny tree. Methuen celebrated Christmas strictly in the religious sense, which mostly just meant sitting through an extra long, extra boring church service. There really was no reason that they couldn’t have put up a tree after she was adopted, except for her mother’s firm belief that flying on Christmas was the cheapest way to travel, and it didn’t really make sense to have one when they weren’t there. And after her mother died, Beth just couldn’t justify putting up a tree just for herself.

* * *

“You’re telling me that you’re _ twenty-three _ years old and you’ve  _ never  _ had a Christmas tree?” Benny’s voice was so loud that Beth had to hold the receiver away from her ear a bit. 

“There just wasn’t a good time,” she replied.

“Harmon, even I have a Christmas tree, and you’ve seen my apartment.”

Beth gave a short snort of laughter. “So you can afford a Christmas tree and not a couch?”

“The lack of couch is why there’s room for a tree,” Benny countered.

“You’ll understand when you’re an orphan whose only Christmas wish is to get through the service without peeing yourself.”   
“Or a chess prodigy with a cheapskate mom. Wait,” he paused in mock thought, as Beth rolled her eyes, “that was both of us, and I still had a tree.”

“It’s not that I didn’t want one. I always liked the trees in the shop windows downtown. It’s just that there was never a good time, you know?”

“That’s it, Harmon. I don’t care that it’s three days before Christmas. This is the year you’re getting a tree, whether you like it or not.”

* * *

When the doorbell rang fifteen minutes later, she halfway thought that Benny had somehow teleported to her doorstep to drag her to a Christmas tree farm, though it was much too cold in her opinion. Instead, it was Harry, dressed in a red flannel shirt and matching scarf. 

“Get your coat, Beth,” he said, “We’ve got a mission.”

She groaned. “Did Benny send you?”

“Have you ever had a Christmas tree?” Harry smirked.   
“Jeez, now you guys are teaming up on me? Not fair.” Her voice was exaggeratedly annoyed, but she couldn’t hide a little smile.

“To be fair, the last time we teamed up, you won against Borgov,” Harry reminded her, “so maybe it wouldn’t kill you to give it a chance."

* * *

Despite her feigned complaints, Beth liked the Christmas tree farm. It was quaint, with a little red barn and white farmhouse. She particularly liked the rows of trees that stretched out of sight over a gentle hill. If she turned one way, she could look down the infinite columns of evergreens and if she turned another, she could look down the rows or diagonals. It was like she was a queen, waiting for the perfect capture. 

Harry reappeared by her side with a clattering wagon and handsaw. They set off down one of the rows, stopping to inspect promising trees. 

“This one looks nice.” Beth stopped in front of a long-needled fir. Harry circled it appraisingly. 

“Look at the top.” He pointed at three spindly branches all pointing the same way. “You can’t fit a topper on there.”

In truth, Beth had forgotten all about ornaments. Her mother might have hidden some away in the attic, but she doubted it. Alma was never really one for seasonal decor.

“Okay, how about this one?” She circled a thin tree slightly taller than she was. Harry gave it a once over. 

“It’s a nice shape… no bald spots… good top… You like it?” He stopped beside Beth, both gazing at it.

“Yeah,” she nodded, “I think it’ll do nicely.”

Harry was not good at cutting the tree down. The saw kept slipping out of his hands or out of the cut he was making. Though the trunk was fairly thin, it took them almost fifteen minutes to fell it, Harry laying in the mud underneath the tree and Beth pushing on the trunk so it wouldn’t pinch his saw blade. At long last, though, they wheeled it back to the barn, Harry pulling the wagon and Beth carrying the saw. 

The tree was bound in baling twine, flattening the branches to the trunk, loaded onto the roof of Harry’s car, and, just like that, Beth had her first Christmas tree.

* * *

As bad as Harry had been at cutting it down, Beth was worse at seeing if the tree was straight in the stand. 

“It’s leaning to the left, I think.” Harry shifted the tree as she moved to a different vantage point. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t leaning to the left.” He shifted it back. “It all looks the same to me, Harry.” She crossed her arms.

“Then it’s good, right?”

“Not like all the same as in it looks straight up and down on every side. It looks crooked from everywhere I stand.”    
“Here, hold it.” Beth switched positions with Harry, holding the tree by the piano as he darted around the room giving instructions. “It needs to tilt back. To the right, too.” Beth moved the tree as directed. “Perfect.” Harry tightened the screws to hold the tree in place and cut the twine that bound it, unfurling its branches. They stood back to admire their handiwork. 

“Now all you need are ornaments and lights,” Harry said.

Beth nodded slowly, trying to remember if she’d seen any boxes in the attic. “About that…”

* * *

The shops would be crowded, but it would have been silly to have a bare tree in the middle of her living room. She needed something to put on the tree. Beth hopped on the bus downtown the next morning in pursuit of Christmas ornaments. She went into the department store, all lit up with fairy lights and last minute shoppers. There was a wider variety of ornaments than she could have ever dreamed of. Glass baubles, shiny metal ones shaped like animals, miniature wooden nutcrackers. She stood there, gazing up at the display tree, the colors of the lights bouncing off the ornaments and reflecting onto her face, unable to make up her mind. 

She ended up back on the bus with two large paper bags full of ornaments carefully wrapped in tissue paper, some red beads made to look like strung cranberries, and two strands of white lights, ready to tackle trimming the tree. This was her first Christmas tree, and she was going to get it right.

* * *

The next day, the doorbell rang as she was putting more water in the tree stand. Harry was just getting off his shift at the supermarket, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it was him, ready to inspect her handiwork on the tree.

“Coming!” She crawled out from under the tree and opened the door, setting the water glass on the telephone table. “Harry, I go-” She stopped short when she recognized the black coat, hat, and floppy mop of blond hair. “Benny!” she gasped in delight. 

“Harmon,” he said coolly.

“Come in.” She ushered him through the door and into the living room, then taking off into the kitchen.

“And here I thought you were a regular Scrooge.” He gestured at the tree. “It looks nice, Harmon.”

Beth returned with a packet of store bought gingerbread cookies, and two cups of coffee. The pair settled on the couch, admiring the tree. Each bauble was carefully placed, the shiny red and silver glinting in the lights. There were tiny spun glass ornaments made to look like icicles hanging on the branches, and, to top it all, was a little silver star. 

“It does look nice, doesn’t it?”

“It’d look a lot better with this.” Benny pressed a little ornament into her palm. The shape was familiar, and she knew what it was without even looking. A white queen, to reign over her tree. 


End file.
